2014 When Will I See My Driveway? #3

View from the Garage.

View from the Pole Barn is Clear

From Half Way Down

End of the Driveway

It didn't get up to 50 degrees today here in Hillman.  It was 60° in the cities today.  We are supposed to get rain and then a couple of inches of snow tomorrow into Tuesday with a chance of more snow Friday before it warms up again next weekend.  Depending on how much it rains tomorrow I might be able to see the driveway this week.

I Heard...

a red winged blackbird this morning and a Canada goose flying to the North.

2014 When Will I See My Driveway? #2

Snow height at the garage door.

The view out of the garage before I got the snowblower out..

We got 5" of snow today and after one trip up and back with the snow blower I broke it when I dug up a golf ball sized rock.  Not sure at this point if it's something I will be able to fix or not.  I'm guessing not.  It's going to warm up this weekend, but then we are probably going to get a another snow storm on Monday.

#TBT: My First Bass Jig

#TBT stands for Throwback Thursday.

One of my earliest memories of catching a bass was from when I was probably 4 or 5 years old and my dad gave me a little yellow hair jig that he called a "Crappie Killer" to use.  I went down to the "back bay," our cabin on West Sylvia had water we could fish on the front and back of the property, hoping to catch a crappie.  Instead of a crappie I got a largemouth instead.  Puzzled I went up and showed dad the bass I had caught.  He explained to me that just because it was called a "Crappie Killer" didn't mean that it would only catch crappies.  Satisfied with that explanation I threw back the bass, which weren't in season yet, and went back to try and get me crappie.   All I could ever seem to catch on these "Crappie Killers" were bass. No matter how much I tried, I don't think I ever caught a crappie on these jigs. As you can see from the picture, I still have a few of them. Judging from the pound test still tied on to the one jig I can see why I didn't get any crappies with them.

Mille Lacs Smallmouth Regulation Changes

From today's DNR press release:

Similarly, the smallmouth bass harvest season will be extended and limits relaxed. The smallmouth bass season on Mille Lacs will start May 10 and be exempted from the statewide catch-and-release regulation that begins in mid-September. This means anglers may harvest smallmouth bass from the opener until the last Sunday in February. Anglers may keep six fish, only one of which may be longer than 18 inches. The previous regulation allowed anglers to keep six fish 17- to 20-inches, only one of which could be longer than 20 inches.

I am totally OK with the changes.  We will just have to see whether or not I will be able to take advantage of the early start to the season.  It's been a couple of years since I caught a smallie from Mille Lacs and I haven't had the Trophy out there in at least 5 years.  The one thing that I don't care for is the fact that we can't be on the water until 6AM except for on the Opener weekend. I feel they should have made the start time 5AM. The night ban is in effect until December, so there will be no night fishing allowed on the lake this year other than on Opener weekend.

I feel bad for the Muskie guys.

2014 When Will I See My Driveway? #1

It's time once again for what has become a tradition here at Bass Pundit Blog; "When Will I See My Driveway."  I first started tracking this sign of Spring on March 5th of 2010.  With the way the forecast is looking.  I may not be taking any pictures for a couple of days.  However, the snow is probably going to go pretty quick as the ice is off of a lot of the driveway at this point from the melting we have already had.  I got the picture today because we had a light dusting last night that covered up the spots that were already bare driveway.

View from the garage.

New view this year from down by the pole barn

From half way down.

The end of the driveway.

Lilah's tracks

Kaylee's tracks

What Are Your Priorities In Fishing?

This Facebook status update from the guys at 5X3 Nation caught my eye.  I thought now that would make for a good blog post.  The 5X3 list is all about tournament fishing, while my list is not exclusively about tournaments.

My Priories In Fishing Are...

1. To Catch Fish-  Make no mistake, when I go fishing I am going to try my darndest to catch as big and as many fish as I can, whether I am fishing in a tournament or not.  (This coincide's with #5 on the 5X3 list.)

2. To Have Fun- Tournament or not my #2 priority when I fish is to have fun and to me catching fish is fun.  (See priority #1)

3. To Enjoy God's creation, cause if the fish aren't biting what else is there to do?

4.  To test my skills.  Mostly against myself, but also against others. That is a big reason why I like fishing in tournaments.

5. To have something to report here or at the Bass Pundit Fishing Log Blog.

6. To experiment with and buy new tackle.  Minnesocold winters are long and the bait monkey's on my back big time at this time of the year.

7. The brotherhood and camaraderie.  I like fishing with other people some of the time, but I also like the peace and tranquility of just me, the fish, and God.  However, my time spent on Facebook and on message boards revolves a lot around this aspect.

8. To make a little money.  Yeah right!  I'm not in it for the money.  But I did win the Baxter Bass Snatcher "Lunker" pot on Rabbit Lake last year, so I won my club dues back.  So there's that.

I Missed Winning A Rod By This Much @ FantasyBass.com

I like the way the Biobor hats look.  What's a new year for me without a new hat or two. Last year it was a Gander Mountain cap. The year before that Cabela's.  The year before that Bass Zone and the year before that Strike King and the year before that Angling Masters International.

Pioneer Press Write Up On The Gophers FLW Championship Win

Here it is...  I think they did a much better job of telling the story than the Star Tribune did last week.

Dead Trout Lure "This Just Ain't Right"

It's been a few years since I did a "this just ain't right post." Mattlures Upside Dead Stick - $59.99. Actually I think it's a pretty clever idea for places stocked with trout ,but $60 bucks. Ouch!

U of M Team Wins 2014 FLW College Fishing National Championship

Chris Burgan  (left), and Austin Felix

That's right, Golden Gophers traveled down to South Carolina and brought home the trophy's and entry into this summer's Forrest Wood Cup, which will also be held in South Carolina on Lake Murray.  Austin Felix of Eden Prairie will go as the Boater and Chris Burgan of Rhinelander, WI will go as a Co-Angler. Read the story at FLW here.

Way to Go Boys!!!

MN B.A.S.S. Nation Club Info

MN B.A.S.S. Nation Club Info

Good Article Over At AnglingAuthority.com on Harsh Winters And Bass

Effects of Harsh Winters On Bass

It talks about the possible repercussions of the past two winters here in the North Country.  I sure hope one of the effects isn't a partial winter-kill in Platte Lake this year.

Bait Monkey Bites On The Tackle Warehouse 25% Off Sale

I just couldn't resist the 25% sale Tackle Warehouse had for the Bassmaster Classic this year.  I actually got even more than 25% off because the Powerbait and Vicious line were already marked down some already.

I got:
4  KVD 1.0's
4 KVD 1.5's
11 bags of Powerbait Ripple Shads 4"
2 bags of Powerbait Ripple Shads 5"
Vicious Pro Elite Fluorocarbon 14lb Test 200 yards

Great Interview With Howell And Davy At The Ramp

This video of Davy Hite and Randy Howell coming off the lake is can't miss, but we all did thanks to the feed getting overloaded. Dave talks a bit in the beginning, then when he goes to talk with the people skip ahead to about the 9:53 minute mark for the interview with a cancer survivor and the interview starts at 11:13 or so.

Congratulations Randy Howell 2014 Bassmaster Classic Champion

It was exciting to see the guy with the loudest fans win the thing at Guntersville this week. Coming from 11th Place going into the day was unbelievable.  By all accounts Randy is a really nice guy and the work he does with King's Home is quite admirable.  Those kids really made ruckus cheering for him.

The GoPro footage they got to today is something to see if you haven't.  

Way to go Randy Congratulations!!!

Bassmaster Classic Who I'm Rooting For This Year: Team Walker

Bass Pundit Blogger Derby, Big Changes for 2014

This fish would now count.  Didn't last year because season wasn't open yet.

The New Rules are Here...

Basically I've made it into a Big Bass Derby, no more 5 fish bags.  Fish caught at anytime count, no more closed season restrictions.  No more minimum length/weight restrictions other than the fish has to be bigger than one already entered.  I didn't change it to give us a chance to beat Holmer; I just don't want to spend the time adding up 5 fish.

Cool Infographic On MN M&M Pro Jim Moynagh

I just love that M&M Jersey.

Blogging Note: My "About Me" is updated

See the tab on the blog header or click here to see it.

My Niece Devin's 1st Ever Bass

My 7 year old niece Devin caught her first ever bass last week down in Florida.  I think she got it on a Yum Dinger in the midst of a school that was busting on baitfish.  My brother told her to reel in while jerking it and it nailed the Dinger.  She wanted Dad's help, but he made her reel it in all by herself.  Good Job Devin!!!

FLW Fantasy Fishing Changes for 2014

Here is the Summery from BassFan:

My thoughts:  I'm happy, happy, happy, that they brought prizes back for all the events and went with lesser prizes, but more of them.  A+ FLW!!!

As for the new scoring system, I'm on the fence.  I thought it was hard enough to pick anglers under the old way of doing it and putting a salary cap on anglers will probably complicate the game more than is needed.  Sounds like a hassle, but we will just have to see how it works.

Bass Snatchers 2014 Tentative Tournament Schedule

The #1 thing I wanted to see on this years schedule was a tournament on Leech Lake.  It looks like that will happen.  I am least enthusiastic about having a blind tournament again this year.  I would much prefer to start at 7AM, rather than at 8AM which the having it be a blind tournament requires.

I am excited about fishing Woman Lake, which the Bass Snatchers haven't done since I joined the club.  I also like the Serpent Lake and Pelican picks, but would prefer Pelican and Whitefish get switched so the smallmouth in Whitefish could be in play.

What I Caught Fish On in 2013

2013 was the year of the swimbait for me.  The Havoc Grass Pig was the #1 bait, but I caught a lot of fish on 1 pack of Yum Money Minnows, a couple of sample Berkley Powerbait Ripple Shads, and what I had left over from a pack of  Gambler EZ's and Big Bite Baits Cane Thumpers.  All in all swim baits accounted for 427 fish and a few more caught on chatterjigs and jigs.  I only got 102 fish on Crawtubes this year after getting 221 on them the year before.

Stanley Phantom was my #1 topwater bait with 111 fish caught.

Here is the full list of what I caught fish on in 2013:

Holmer Won My MN Blogger Bass Derby Yet Again

5.81lbs

I thought that Andy's Bass Blog had managed to beat Holmer of Bass Utopia this year, but then I realized I missed one of Holmer's fish and sure enough the upgrade on the cull was enough to beat out Andy by a quarter of a pound.  That makes it the 5th straight year Holmer has won the Derby.  Overall the top weights were way down this year.  Holmers weight of 26.54lbs would have got him 3rd Place each of the two previous years.

This year we had 2 fish over 6lbs both caught by Carl Spande of BassMN.com.

6.50lbs

6.87lbs

2nd Place,  as I already mentioned, went to Andy's Bass Blog
3rd Place went to Jason Dudek Fishing with 26.09lbs

Congratulations Guys!!!

I'm mulling changing things up for 2014, we'll see.

Vikings Season Over- My Thoughts

I believe, like my brother Todd, that Coach Frazier deserves another season as head coach. However, unlike Todd I believe Offensive Coordinator Bill Musgrave deserves to stay as well.  D Coordinator needs to be gone.  Will I get my wish on this? Probably not, but I put it out there.  If Frazier is gone then Brian Billick is my first choice.

As far as how the season played out.  I am most disappointed with the way Peterson was used in the 3 game stretch from Carolina to Green Bay.  Seriously, what was our play calling about in those 3 games.  It's to bad he got injured at Baltimore, otherwise he would have been in the race for another rushing title this year.

I am equally disappointed that Ponder proved he was not up to the task. To me, the play out of Cassel was only marginally better and I believe the statistics back me up on that.  And like everyone else I have no clue what the deal with Freeman was all about.  I don't know what we should do about QB for next year.  I would prefer we go for a defensive player with our #1 draft pick rather than reaching for a QB..  It was clear to me this year that our #1 problem was our defense, not our QB play.  It will be interesting to see what our off season moves will be.

The biggest positive from the season has to be the play of Cordarrelle Patterson.  We got a bigger, stronger Percy Harvin.

   

1500AM ESPN Pro Pick'Em Challenge Prizes

The swag arrived: 1500AM ESPN Twin Cities Mug, T-Shirt, and Mouse Pad and $50 Duluth Trading Co. Gift Certificate that I'm using to get their Ballroom Carpenter Jeans

Yes It Is Time For An Early C&R Season in MN!!!

Is it time for an early C&R bass season?

The process for getting this looked at has been a little slow in my opinion, but it looks like there is a good chance this will happen in 2015.  There will be a public comment period sometime in the next few months and probably be a hearing or two at the capital.  Providing there is no significant opposition this should pass and I'll be throwing what I want to on the Fishing Opener in 2015.

Bass Pundit's 9th Blogoversary!!!

Well I made it another year.  Thankfully no major health issues this past year.  My ability to blog was definitely impacted a bit by my stroke in December of 2011.  Thank You to everyone who still reads what I write about.  

Bass Pundit Minnesocold Bloggers Derby Now Closed for 2013

However again this year I am behind on getting everyone's weights recorded.  Hopefully I'll do that by January 1st. I'm not sure who the winner is going to be this year.

Here are some of the fish I haven't counted yet.

6.87lbs BassMN

5.50lbs Jason Dudek Fishing

4.41lbs Justin Lundborg Fishing

Bass Snatcher On Extreme Angler TV Fishing Leech Lake

The first 12 minutes of this video has fellow Baxter Bass Snatcher Keith Tuma in it fishing on Leech Lake.  Fishing on Leech is a lot like fishing on Platte/Sullivan except there is a ton more water on Leech.

Viking Reels in a Romomouth Bass

Check out Brian Robison's sack dance.

Vikes- What I think they should do now.

The Vikings made the decision to rush Josh Freeman out to see what he could do versus the New York Giants on Monday Night Football. If you didn't see the game, then you are lucky, because it was Uuuugly!!!  Josh was obviously not ready to play for us yet.  He needs more time to learn the system.  He needs to get his mechanics fixed. And he needs to get his head right.  If I were the Vikings Management and Coaches I would sit Freeman for our next three games minimum.  I would start Ponder verses Green Bay next week and put Cassel as back up.  That is what I think they should do now.

My New Phantom's

I spotted these Stanley Phantom's in an Ebay auction for 70 assorted lures.  I asked if he was willing to sell me all the Phantom's separate and he was, so we agreed upon a price.  The bone and white one are back ups for one's I already have.  The blue one is the same one I lost these summer when I got broken off.  The black, bullfrog, rainbow, and white with the spot and scales are ones I've never seen before.  With the way the weather is looking I probably won't be trying any of these until next year.

Josh Freeman Signing With The Vikes- My Thoughts

I paid a little bit of attention to the Josh Freeman saga over the past week, but I didn't think he would end up with the Vikings, so I didn't pay a ton of attention to it.  I was shocked when I heard he was going to sign with the Vikes last night.  So I have spent the past couple of hours reading peoples reactions and learning more about Freeman.

How Josh Freeman became Greg Schiano's enemy #1 by Bleacher Report pretty much sums up what Vikings fans need to know about how Freeman ended up leaving the Bucs.

As far as reading fan's reactions that is usually pretty worthless, but every once and a while you read something that makes reading through the crap worthwhile.  The comment I thought made the most sense came from the Minnesota Vikings Facebook Page.  This is what some guy named Skyler Geer wrote:

Listen uneducated fans, when Freeman is good he's better than every QB on our roster. That being said he doesnt know our system yet, Cassel is the hot hand.
I think a lot of this signing is to motivate Ponder/Cassel.
Start Cassel the next few games while Freeman learns the playbook see how he does. if it's not good we can throw ponder back in or if Leslie thinks Josh is ready he could be very scary he will throw it which opens up field for AP. Which we just saw Cassel do.
Don't expect to see freeman for 3-5 weeks if one of others plays bad. If we stick w/ Cassel & he plays well freeman may never get a shot here.

The thing that I think it important to realize is that Freeman chose to come to MN over apparently a few other teams.  I think that speaks well of both Frazier and Spielman.  It's pretty clear that Freeman has been seriously regressing and he and his agent believe MN is the best place to get his head straight and turn it around.  Both Ponder and Cassel are now on notice that the future of the MN quarterback position is up for grabs.

Updated 10/9:  The more I have read the past couple of days the more I am liking this deal. At worst if Freeman doesn't work out the Vikes will probably get a compensatory pick.  It seems that Freeman's stats were pretty good last year until the last few games where he threw a bunch of picks.  That apparently coincided with the Bucs not choosing to extend his contract.  That decline continued into this year.  It's pretty clear that the situation in Tampa under coach Psycho had turned toxic for Freeman.  This guy could easily turn into a Stafford like Franchise QB for us. 

My Thought On The Vikings Going Into The Bye

Well the 1st quarter of the season is in the books and the Vikes are lucky to not be 0-4 and unlucky to not be 3-1.  I will say this: the Browns were NOT who we thought they were.  Unfortunately we can't say the same thing about Ponder and our pass defense.  They are the two biggest reason's we are not 3-1.  Ponder has improved a little bit, but his turnovers have just killed us.   However, our porous Defense is the biggest reason we are not 3-1.  There is no way in heck we should have given up 31 points to the Browns at home.  There is little doubt at this point that we finish last in the North unless the Defense improves markedly.  I see no reason to be optimistic about that happening.

As far as Ponder versus Cassel, I think Ponder should ride the bench for a while.  Let him learn from Cassel.  I don't know that the Vikes have to give up on Ponder totally at this point.  He wasn't the only reason our Offense was struggled at times the first 3 weeks of the season.  There are times when Ponder flashes, but he is just too inconsistent. Our Offensive line really struggled against the Lions, Bears, and Browns.  Having Jerome Felton back makes a big difference in Peterson's play and no doubt the whole O line's play as well.  To me Felton's presence was as the big a factor in the win as Cassel.  I think had Felton been able to play the first three games we might have won both the Bears and Browns game.

I say let Cassel play and see where it takes us.  With our D, I don't think it will be very far.  If he can't take us beyond a .500 record over the next two quarters of the season then they should re-insert Ponder for the last 4 games of the season and see if he cleaned up his game.  If not it's time for a new QB plan next year.

Aug 17th Bass Snatchers Blind Tournament at The Cullen Chain

With our last tournament of the year being tomorrow I figured I better get this done.

We met at a parking lot in Brainerd at around 6:15AM on August 17th and found out we would be fishing the Cullen Chain.  I was alright with that as I like the lakes and my boater Guy won the last tournament there.  The weather promised to be warm, mostly sunny and breezy out of the SW.  We launched out of the middle lakes access around quarter to 8AM.  We were first boat out.  Guy didn't want to run the risk of getting caught in the Culvert going to the Upper Lake so we went to a sunken island on the middle lake.  There was a guy fishing topwater there already.  We came in to the SW of him and about 3 of our boats also came in on this spot.  I had what I'm pretty sure was a pike hit at my Stanley Phantom and other than that we got nothing.

We moved to a point off of some reeds and guy got two good quality fish right away.  I got a pike on a black/blue Chigger Craw.  Not wanting to retie I switched to a craw tube.  I got a 12.5" bass on that as well as a rock bass.  I think Guy landed a couple more small keepers.   We then went to another point off of some reeds.  I had tied on another Chigger Craw by then and was quickly rewarded with my best fish of the day a 15.5" largie.

We then fished some reeds and some slop.  Guy got a nice dogfish.  Guy made the call to head to the Lower Lake.  We had to get out and push but made it.  We started on a weedline spot just out from the channel and I was immediately rewarded with a 14" bass.  We then moved around a bunch of places not getting anything.  The wind had come up pretty good by now and there was a reed bed getting nailed by the wind.  Guy caught a a keeper than two quality fish the first 15 minutes we were in the reeds.  One of the fish was the 4/3 Lunker of the tournament.  I broke off my Texas Rigged craw tube with 3/4oz Tungsten Sinker twice getting caught on the reeds, so I switch to a Strike King Hack Attack jig. We stayed in the reeds and I managed to get one that was just short of 14" and two 14.5" bass out of them on the Jig.  I got my limit and I was happy.  I didn't fish the rest of the day very well only getting a rock bass out of some pads missing a few other hits.  Guy put together a pretty good pattern in the middle lake hitting pad and reed edges with the wind blowing in on them and picked up a few culls.  We quit about 15 minutes early.

Results:  My 6 fish went for 8/12 and put me in 20th place.  Guy managed to win the thing  by over 3lbs with 18lbs 2ozs

My thoughts:  My head just wasn't in this one, especially after I caught my limit.  I did enjoy watching Guy put on a show.  This tournament sealed my fate of not going anywhere in the club point standings this year. Oh well.

SKOL Vikings!!!

Today is start of Vikings season and just like last year I don't know what to expect out of this team.  I can see us starting out at  4-0 or 1-3 in the first quarter of the season.

Here are the big three questions in my mind that will have to be answered this year for us to have a good season:

1. Can AP stay healthy and play at the same level as last year?

If he can, than it's going to be a fun team to watch no matter what happens.

2.  Is Ponder going to improve from last year or is he not the answer?

Ponder could improve from last season and we could still start out 1-3 and have a losing season if AP were to get hurt or if our defense doesn't hold up. If Ponder proves not to be the answer then we will almost certainly have a losing record this season.  If so we can hopefully get a franchise quarterback in next years draft.  

3.  Will our pass rush and young secondary hold up?

If our secondary sucks than we will almost certainly finish last in our Division this year.

Post Game Thoughts:  What a hot mess that game turned into.  Ponder as erratic and mistake filled as ever.  The O-Line not giving Ponder or AP much help.  Musgrave's questionable play calling not helping matters either. The Defense had as many or more issues than the Offense today.  Giving up 34 points in a game isn't acceptable.  This game reminded me a bit of the total team meltdown we had in Chicago last year.  Also I have to give credit to the Lions.  They could be a scary good team if they don't shoot themselves in the foot.

On the plus side AP, the receivers, and Walsh looked good for the most part..  I'm not optimistic about next weeks game in Chicago, but I think we have a shot at going into the bye 2-2.

Bass Snatcher Catches Big Bass at B.A.S.S. Nation Northern Divisional

Chuck Steinbauer got yet more wood for the wall catching Big Bass of the tournament with this 3lb 8oz Lake Francis Case Smallie at the 2013 B.A.S.S. Nation Northern Divisional.  Chuck (31st Place) and Snatcher Dennis Lothspeich (27th Place) both helped Team MN take home the team title.  You can find all about the tournament here.

I'm Still Alive

Due mostly to car problems and hot weather I only got out fishing 3 days in August.  I just have been to lazy to blog about anything.  Hopefully I will get some more blogging done this week, maybe some fishing as well.  We'll see.